Kumar's five-year term as JNU VC had ended on January 26, following which he was allowed to continue in his post by the Ministry till his successor was picked. File. JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar was on Friday appointed as the next chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC). The post of the UGC chairman fell vacant on December 7, 2021, after Prof D P Singh, who had taken charge in 2018, resigned upon turning 65. The post of vice-chairman of the higher education regulator is also vacant.
Kumar’s five-year term as JNU vice chancellor had ended on January 26, following which he was allowed to continue in his post by the Ministry till his successor was picked.
Kumar is widely regarded for his knowledge in electronic engineering and associated areas. He obtained MS(EE) and PhD (EE) degrees from the Dept of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras.
Between July 1994 and December 1995, he was a visiting faculty and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.
Later, he moved to the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi where he became an Associate Professor in July 1997 and a Professor in January 2005. He took over as JNU VC in January 2016.
Kumar’s tenure in JNU has been marked by constant campus unrest over issues ranging from the 2016 sedition controversy to the disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed, an MSc student.
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